OyChicago blog

I was debating calling this article “My Country Western Song,” but since
I do not have a dog or a pick-up truck, I thought this was more apropos. With
2014 ending on a high note, 2015 has been a little rough, but I think I finally
learned an important lesson.

Last year was great; we added Joel to our family, and I will briefly
gush that he is sweet, handsome and smiley and his big brother has handled the
attention-sharing very well. We are extremely lucky, minus a few trips to
urgent care and one visit to the emergency room.

This year, I became the hot mess of the family. One of those reasons is
sleep deprivation.

Having a baby is an interesting study in how to deal with tiredness. I
have no idea how my wife has dealt so well with it. In fact, I am going to make
a sweeping generalization that moms handle lack of sleep way better than I do.
Don’t get me wrong, my recent lack of sleep wasn’t what cut my index finger to
the point of stitches (that was an emulsion blender), but I think it has played
a role in other aspects of my recent klutziness.

The real culprit in my 2015, however, has been my need for speed. Not
the drug – moving quickly. I like to get things checked off my list, so I’m
often in a race with no one in particular. I wonder if that’s why my
three-year-old hates to come in second place or even tie. Anyway, both bosses
(wife and JUF) have encouraged me to take my time, and I’m going to start
trying very hard to apply that advice, especially after my latest speed-related
incident.

I took a day off recently and used the opportunity to try accomplishing
all my errands. I ventured to our favorite butcher, hit two other grocery
stores, and visited the auto-mechanic. But then I got greedy. I thought I
should return my sunglasses to the mall before picking up family at the
airport. I had a cushion of at least 15 minutes, but convinced myself that I
needed to run into the mall. Had I not been running, the stones I stepped on
probably wouldn’t have turned my foot.

The tiny bone break that resulted requires a massive boot and four weeks
to heal. I now have been called “Gimpy” and can no longer sneak up on anyone
(not that I did that before, but it’s nice to have the option).

My take away from this tired, sliced-up, limping start to the year? Sometimes
you need to run, but most of the time, walking is your best bet.

Leonard Nimoy died in February, but the memorials continue. Nimoy embraced and
celebrated his Jewish heritage publically, especially in his later years. Here
are some of his most Jewish contributions to popular culture:

The Vulcan greeting was developed by Nimoy for
his iconic role as Mr. Spock on the seminal Star Trek series. He based it on
the gesture used by kohanim to bless
Jewish congregations. It represents the Hebrew letter shin.

ShekhinaThis is Nimoy’s first book of art
photographs. The subjects are Jewish women interacting with Jewish objects such
as a tallit, tefillin and mikvah. Some would find it controversial
to see women wearing these items, let alone that they are wearing little else.

American Jewish MusicThis was a 13-episode, nationally broadcast radio series
Nimoy narrated. It was produced by the Milken Archive, a library of Jewish
musical recordings, many rare or unique. The
series, initially produced with WFMT, included works by Kurt Weill and Leonard
Bernstein, film scores, operas, cantorials, klezmer melodies, symphonies based
on Jewish themes, Sephardi music, and songs from Yiddish theater.

Portrayals of Jews
heroesNimoy read the words of one of
the greatest Torah commentators in the documentary Rashi: A Light After the Dark
Ages. He
played Samuel the Prophet in a TV movie about King David.
He played Mel Mermelstein, a Holocaust survivor who took Holocaust deniers to
court and won in Never Forget. He read the words of Israel’s
third leader, Levi Eshkol, in a documentary about Israel’s prime ministers. And
he even played Morris Meyerson, aka Mr. Golda Meir, in A Woman Called Golda,
opposite Ingrid Bergman.

Narrations of Jewish documentariesNimoy was a go-to voice-over
actor and interview subject for Jewish topics, including American Hasidism, American synagogues, Chinese congregations and even “Hava Negila.”

InquisitivenessNimoy hosted the 1977-1982 show In Search Of…, which later inspired the
History Channel’s less-than-historical focus. The show delved into such topics
as aliens, ghosts and Bigfoot.

Loyalty Nimoy’s co-stars and directors were
often Jewish. On Star Trek, there
were William “Kirk” Shatner and Walter “Chekov” Koenig. Fringe was
created by J.J. Abrams, who later directed the Star Trek reboot films. The Transformers movies (for which Nimoy
voiced different robots) were directed by Michael Bay. He appeared with Don Adams in the Mel Brooks show Get Smart, and on the Western show Bonanza with Lorne Greene and Michael
Landon. He directed Steve Guttenberg in Three Men and a Baby. And Nimoy was a friend of Suzanna Hoffs’
family, which is how he ended up in a video for her ’80s band, The Bangles. Nimoy
even took over as star of Mission: Impossible for Martin Landau… the man who was originally offered
the role of Spock!

A sense of humorIn a Simpsons episode, Krusty the Klown— born Herschel
Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofski— almost leaps to his death from a speeding
monorail. Leonard Nimoy (or, more accurately, his cartoon self) grabs Krusty
and pulls him to safety, declaring: “No! The world needs laughter!”
Nimoy’s non-cartoon self agreed, roasting William Shatner and being interviewed
by one of the Muppets’ Pigs in Space, Dr.
Strangepork. He also spoofed his Spock character on Futurama and The Big Bang Theory. Most recently, he starred in a rather self-effacing video to
Bruno Mars’ “The Lazy Song.”

Along with Barbara Streisand, Mel Brooks, Joan Rivers, Jackie Mason,
Neil Diamond, Woody Allen, and a precious few others of his generation, Leonard
Nimoy was one of the most proudly open and openly proud Jews in entertainment.

I took the two photographs above while walking on the
“Bloomingdale Trail” in Chicago. This unused three miles of elevated railroad track and footpath is slated to become a park and trail system
connecting four neighborhoods by summer of 2016 and has been renamed the 606.

In June 2013 I spent five days with my son and two
friends running a small urban adventure day camp. One of our adventures
involved walking the “Bloomingdale.” It was so cool to be walking 16 feet above
street level and getting a very unique perspective of Chicago. We walked over
and next to parks, streets, schools, old factory buildings, and residential
areas for about 30 minutes. On a second trip there a few days later, we walked
the entire stretch of from beginning to end and back again. It was on this
excursion that we found the two abandoned trains. They had been left there and
over the years had become part of the urban landscape; I had wanted to walk the
entire Bloomingdale Trail prior to its reconstructive surgery.

These abandoned tracks made by joggers and bicyclists
will lose some of their character when the city of Chicago transforms them into
park area and trails. As I looked at and examined the these two sets of train
cars, I reflected on how they, at one time, served a purpose holding cargo of
one type or another, but without an engine pulling them they were rendered
non-functional. I thought about myself and how I have big grand ideas and
projects in my mind, but if they are not “attached” to an action plan or any
measurable movement, then they are just plans, sitting abandoned on a railroad
track.

Learning from our surroundings (people, places, and things) is key for those who try to
invest time in working on themselves. This is what I was doing with the train
cars. As I walked back to my entry point (which involved climbing through a cut
out passageway in a fence, climbing up a man-made ladder, climbing over another
fence, and then jumping onto a garbage can) I was reminded of a something
taught by ethicist, Rabbi Israel Salanter.

When he first observed the railroad system he was able to extract
three important lessons: If you come late, you will miss the train; if the
train jumps the rail, then all of the cars might overturn; and a person without
a ticket cannot board the train.

No matter how hard I looked, I just couldn’t
see any black and blue in that damn dress.

I know, I know. We’re all sick of hearing
about the (white and gold!) viral sensation that took the web by storm. (All
things considered, however, I did prefer this to photos of Kim Kardashian’s
naked and glistening derriere, which apparently “broke” the internet last
year.)

But hear me out: besides being a
head-scratching conundrum that inspired millions of quasi-hysterical emails and
re-shares, there is something genuinely puzzling about this singular image. How
can color, of all things, be a topic so disputed?

I dipped into a little research to see why
this could happen. As it turns out, the things we see right before our very
eyes are by no means undebatable.

Confused yet?

Take Homer, for instance – the poet, not the Simpsons character. For him, the issue
of color truly was black and white – and I mean that literally. He only saw
black and white, with a splash of red here and there, maybe a hint of green if
he really strained his eyes. Of course, we have no way for sure of knowing what
exactly the ancient poet saw as he scanned the Greek landscape, but judging by
his writing, it’s very likely that he
lived in a world that, at least to him, appeared rather colorless.

Homer is not alone, either. In most ancient
texts, whether it be the Vedas or our very own Torah, color references aren’t
as obvious as we might expect. Most interestingly, despite biblical texts’ innumerable
references to the sky and the heavens, the color blue is not mentioned once.
Never.

Blue is, in fact, humanity’s most modern
color.

But the sky is blue. Isn’t it obvious? Yet,
hundreds of years ago, this may have not been obvious at all. The color blue
might have been there, but we humans were just unable to process, or even
notice, it. It’s quite possible that, without a word or concept for blue,
humanity might have just seen a colorless nothing as they gazed into the
expansive mass of the sky.

This begs the question: How many other things
are so obviously right in front of us, but we’re just unable to notice?

Take another example. About 150 years ago, a
single terrifying thought kept hundreds of people awake at night, shivering
nervously under their wool blankets and clutching to their loved ones. It was
the overwhelming fear of being buried alive.

That might make sense for a couple extremely
paranoid or naturally anxious individuals, but masses of people?

This was because back then, doctors didn’t
have the medical prowess to differentiate between when someone had died or,
say, simply lapsed into a coma, or drifted into unconsciousness, or suffered an
epileptic attack. So the
fear of being buried alive was actually quite legitimate. And the heartbroken
relatives, ridden with grief, had no idea that their cause of despair was
something they could still change. The solution was right there — they were
just unable to see it.

As William Safire, New York Times columnist and Romanian-descended Jew, quips, “Never
assume the obvious is true.”

Today, new pictures of the dress are making
their rounds across the internet. Indeed, the dress is blue. But whenever I
look back at that initial image, no matter how much I squint my eyes or print
it out and turn it upside down, I always see gold.

One of my goals at 100
Reasons to Win is
to help professionals improve their relationships. Some of my clients are
looking for true love; some have found it and want to work better with their
partners; and others are just looking to navigate the tough conversations that
they engage in with family, friends, and colleagues.

No matter the purpose, I have
found myself offering similar guidance to just about everyone as the foundation
for sustaining good relationships.

1.Understand the nuances among
different types of relationships. There are all different types of people
in our lives and different protocol for how we interact with them. There are
also actions that can be taken to improve each of those relationships.
Understanding those nuances helps us to increase the value of each and every
one of our relationships as we strive to deepen those connections. A good read
on this topic is the Seven Levels of Intimacy
by Matthew Kelly. Kelly offers a path to overcoming fears and strengthening
bonds with others.

2.
Speak the truth. This doesn't
necessarily mean you must tell everyone, everything all of the time, but it
does mean that sharing a piece of how you feel or what you think about a
situation breaks the ice and brings a certain authenticity. It can be as simple
as having the courage to calmly tell a colleague, “I feel nervous about this
event tonight, so I am glad you are here to help.” Sometimes this involves
admitting when you were wrong and/or asking for forgiveness when you have
wronged another.

3. Compare
your similarities. When you meet or
speak with someone, ask yourself not what is different between you and the
other person, but what is the same. A very important coach and mentor once
shared that with me and it has made a huge difference in my ability to prevent
and/or resolve conflict. The idea is that when you try to figure out what's different,
you are really asking, “What should I fear about this person?” This fear
inevitably sets you up to be in conflict. On the other hand, when you try to
look for what is the same, then you are asking, “What should I love about this
person?” This love sets us up to cooperate with that person.

We interact with people all day long and every
person is a part of another relationship for us. Understanding the foundation
for what makes relationships a success is an important skill. Like any skill,
it comes more naturally to some more than others, but it can be learned, and
with practice, improved.

By the way, the best relationship to start
practicing with is the one that you have with yourself.

As
a 24-year-old single lady, the world of dating is a 180-degree difference from
when my parents were single and mingling. My mom was always being courted and
my dad was taking women out on proper dates. You know your parents are way out
of the loop when your dad’s dating advice includes going to Studio Paris Nightclub
at 9:00 p.m. (For those of you who have not been to Studio Paris, the nightclub
crowd doesn’t arrive until at least midnight.) His thought process is that
respectable men who want to meet respectable women are out earlier. I’ve
accepted that for me, meeting a quality guy probably won’t happen at a Lincoln
Park bar or a River North nightclub.

We
work hard to get into highly regarded universities and rewarding jobs. We
nurture our relationships with our families and friends, but we don’t put that
effort into finding a life-long companion. I applied every piece of advice from
the book into my life, but I learned from experience that certain aspects of
the book weren’t working for me. I’ve learned what has and hasn’t been working
for me while dating and wanted to share my thoughts with you:

Make a non-negotiable list

Set high yet reasonable
expectations

Make
a list of traits you desire in your future companion. In the future, do you
want a Jewish partner? Do you want to have similar passions like jogging? I keep
my list handy in my iPhone’s Notes application so that I can add traits at any
time. I learned from Caspi that creating this list reminds of us of our true desires
instead of being tempted by a seemingly nicer present option.

Poly-date

Date to learn what you
like

What
better way to learn the traits you want in a partner than by going on as many
dates as you can? By going on dates with numerous potential partners, you begin
to learn the signs of a true mensch
or meshugener. Dating can be fun, or
one of the most dreadful encounters you’ll face. It’s all about perspective. My
advice is to look at dates as a way for you to get to know someone and let them
get to know you while enjoying delicious drinks and noshing on a yummy meal.
You might realize this person is totally not meant for you or be surprised at
what you have in common.

Go beyond those Dating
Apps

Get out and meet people in
the real world

Personally,
I’d rather use resources that are going to enhance my dating experience. We all
know someone who met their significant other on Hinge or one of those dating
apps, so we start believing the same will happen to us—and maybe it could. I’ve
gone on a handful of dates through these dating apps, but I didn’t have much in
common with my dates because the apps only show the surface level of its users.

Caspi
advises subscribing to online dating resources such as JDate. As someone who
subscribed to JDate for about six months, I went on only three dates with the
same person until I realized we weren’t right for each other. Personally, I
wasn’t profiting from the investment of money and time to produce my profile.

In
addition to your dating apps and online profiles, my advice is to join
organizations and group activities to meet more people who share your interests
(I have to admit that was my dad’s advice to me. I guess he’s not totally out
of the loop.) One way to meet eligible singles is by joining LEADS, a program created by JUF’s Young Leadership
Division, which is great for creating relationships in a relaxed social setting.

I
know the game of dating can be difficult to navigate and rules are always being
added and subtracted, but I hope my advice can help you think through what is
best for you.

I recently poached eggs –
successfully. I’m honestly not sure I’ve ever been more proud of anything; which
probably means that I should find a more thrilling life.

Poaching eggs has been on my
to-do list for a while, but I haven’t attempted them because I’ve been too afraid.
They’ve always sounded like a difficult science experiment that I wasn’t sure I
was strong enough to tackle.

When you think about it,
though, they are kind of magical. How else are you supposed to describe cooking
eggs in water? Then again, they can’t be that difficult to achieve since a
poached egg of some sort is on every brunch and breakfast menu. They can be
found everywhere, and up until this week everywhere
excluded my apartment.

Maybe you’re like me and
you’ve let the idea of failure scare you out of the kitchen. I started cooking mostly
because I got tired of the same boring takeout in my neighborhood. Most of the
time I’m not very confident in the kitchen, but I’m learning to bite my tongue
and go for it. I am slowly checking seemingly difficult cooking projects off of
my to-do list. Originally I was hoping that would make me a better and braver
cook; what I’m finding is that it’s making me a better and braver person.

I can’t think of a better
metaphor for life. Cookbooks are as readily available as any other book. They’re
full of instructions – you just have to be able to read and try to do what they
ask. The key word here is try. If you
mess up, so what. Try again. If I’ve learned anything from my kitchen experiment,
it’s that trying something new is absolutely worth it and when it does work out
you feel like a magician. What’s better than that?

My (Magical) Version of Eggs Florentine

There are a zillion steps to
this recipe, but once you’ve done everything and assembled it you’ll feel like
a champion.

Melt the butter in a small
sauce pan. Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, 1½ teaspoons salt, ¾ teaspoon
pepper and cayenne in the jar of a blender. Blend for 15 seconds. With the
blender running, slowly pour the hot butter into the blender and blend for 30
seconds, until the sauce is thick. (You can leave it in the blender at room
temperature for up to 1 hour. If it is made in advance, add 1 tablespoon hot
tap water and blend for a few seconds before serving.)

Heat a large skillet. Melt
the butter, and then add the olive oil and chopped onion. Cook until soft, about
3 minutes. Add the spinach and cook, stirring, until spinach is wilted. Season
with salt and pepper and toss again. Serve warm.

Poached Eggs

Heat the water: Add enough
water to come 1 inch up the side of a narrow, deep 2-quart saucier. Add 1
teaspoon kosher salt and 2 teaspoons white vinegar and bring to a simmer over
medium heat. Meanwhile, crack 1 very fresh cold large egg into a custard cup or
small ramekin. Use the handle of a spatula or spoon to quickly stir the water
in one direction until it's all smoothly spinning around.

TIP: Use this whirlpool method when poaching a single serving (one or two
eggs). For bigger batches, heat the water, salt and vinegar in a 12-inch
nonstick skillet and do not stir.

Add the egg: Carefully drop the egg into the center of the whirlpool. The
swirling water will help prevent the white from "feathering," or
spreading out in the pan.

Let it poach: Turn off the heat, cover the pan and set your timer for 5
minutes. Don't peek, poke, stir or accost the egg in any way.

Lift it out: Remove the egg with a slotted spoon and serve immediately.
Alternatively, move the egg to an ice bath and refrigerate up to 8 hours.
Reheat in warm water just before serving.

Put it all together:
Toast an English muffin and then top it with a bit of the spinach, top it
with a poached egg and a bit of hollandaise sauce.

One of my favorite times of
year is finally here – March Madness. The good weather, the high stakes, and
basketball on television nearly every minute of every day.

Now, I am by no means an NCAA
aficionado; I don’t watch every minute of every regular season or even
conference championship game. But since when does being an expert make you more
qualified to pick winners when it comes to the NCAA tournament? Sure, there are
trends to follow and hot players and teams heading into the tournament, but
what truly makes March Madness great is its unpredictability – the “madness” if
you will. It is one of the few sports bets you can make where the biggest
college basketball fan has little advantage over the casual viewer. The thing I
love about it is that no matter how much I know about any of the teams going
in, I am going to become as emotionally invested as any other fan once that
first game tips off.

I actually think I approach
this with a bit of an advantage over someone rooting for their alma mater. My
college doesn’t even have a team, so I go in completely unattached and open to
jumping on and getting behind whoever I think is the most fun to watch. It is
one of the few times for me when a loss doesn’t equal heartbreak. It’s like
speed dating: I don’t have a life-mate, nor am I looking for one – I’m just
going out looking to have fun.

With that said, let’s make some
preliminary picks. These may not be the picks I stick with, but they are the
ones I like right now after actually watching a good amount of college
basketball this year and using a healthy mix of good, solid research and
pure gut prediction. I’ll go region by region.

Midwest
Region

I only see one real upset
coming out of the Midwest, and that is 12th ranked Buffalo topping 5th ranked
West Virginia in the first round. Aside from the history of upsets in the No. 5
vs. No. 12 portion of the bracket, I think there is a lot to like
about Buffalo and they are a perfect underdog to get behind. This is
their first trip to the tournament, coached by former NCAA star and NBA player
Bobby Hurley. Their main weapon is big man Justin Moss, who nearly
averaged a double-double this season. With a few notable injuries on West
Virginia and a little Cinderella magic dust, I can see this 12 seed moving
on. I like Notre Dame, but they struggle to get stops on the defensive
end. Teams with stars typically have success in the tournament, and Maryland
potentially has one in Melo Tremble. But this region starts with Kentucky, and
I believe it ends with them. They are more than just hype – this is a team
nobody wants to play. They have depth and were dominant all season long. Sure
someone could always sneak up on them, but as of today, this is my team to come
out of the Midwest.

East
Region

I don’t see an obvious favorite
coming out of this region. To me, the team to watch out for is Michigan Stage.
Don’t be fooled by their seven seed. You can never count out a Tom Izzo-coached
team, who will be coming in with a
big chip on their shoulder as a result. I think they could get past two
seed Virginia, but may have trouble with a team like Oklahoma. In fact, I’m
going to take Oklahoma out of the East. They finished the season hot and have
one of the best starting five in all of college basketball.

West
Region

Now to the West where Big Ten
champion Wisconsin holds the top seed, but I think Arkansas is the dark horse
team to watch in this region. Arkansas can flat out score and
are led by SEC player of the year Bobby Portis. Wisconsin
is probably still the favorite and Arizona will be a tough out, but I am not
buying Wisconsin. Bo Ryan has them right there every year and they are as
fundamentally sound as a college basketball team can be. If the tournament were
a “best-of-seven” scenario, Wisconsin might be my champion. But this tournament
is about momentum as much as it is about skill and I see them being beaten on
any given day by a team playing with more heart. I’m going to take Arizona out
of the West because of how well they play against ranked teams.

So, my Final Four looks like
this: Kentucky, Arizona, Oklahoma, Iowa State. And my National Title game?
Kentucky over Iowa State to win it all. Kentucky is just too skilled and too
deep. They have everything that makes a championship team, and as much as I
love to ride an underdog, I just don’t see them being upset on their road to
becoming NCAA National Champions.

I’ve recently learned that many of my friends — including my soon-to-be husband — have spent more time traveling abroad than within the United States. As kids, they spent summers and winter breaks exploring London, Paris, Peru, and Morocco, but have never been to Seattle or New Orleans.

As someone who, outside the U.S., has only ever traveled to Israel, Poland, Canada, and Mexico, I am in awe of these world travelers. I look forward to many years of exploring what our planet has to offer, near and far.

But for those of you who have the travel bug but haven’t yet visited the depths of the USA: What are you waiting for? Our country is beautiful, diverse, and full of history and culture. You don’t need a passport or a different kind of currency to go on wild adventures.

If you’re traveling domestically, then, here are my top 10 local destinations.

1. New Orleans, Louisiana. I love the feel of the culture here — it’s a little southern but also uniquely Cajun. There are musicians playing jazz in the streets, there’s a Voodoo Museum, the little shops are adorable, and even though I’ve sworn off of doughnuts, I’ll make an exception for the amazing beignets. Even after Hurricane Katrina, the culture is still strong, and it’s been so meaningful for me to help rebuild post-hurricane on my three trips there.

Eating beignets at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans with Anne in February 2011

2. Sanibel Island, Florida. She may sell sea shells by the sea shore, but YOU can experience millions of the beautiful shells in sunny southern Florida. This quaint town is beautiful and romantic, known for its seashells and vacation atmosphere.

Picking seashells in Sanibel in February 2013 with Priya, Maham, Christie, Virginia, and Syema

3. Seattle, Washington. Seattle is a fun, hip town full of diverse neighborhoods and quirky things to see. And if you love rain, you’ll fit right in! There are food markets, a chocolate factory tour, amazing hikes, and a troll under a bridge. Plus, it’s a short ride to Vancouver, Canada — one of my favorite destinations outside of the U.S.!

Hanging out on the Fremont Troll in Seattle with Christie and Virginia in March 2012

4. Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston is probably the most unique city I’ve visited in this fine country of ours. It feels like you’re walking through a time capsule of the Civil War era, filled with southern mansions with gas lanterns and cobblestone streets with horse-drawn carriages. The locals love their city and are so excited to show it off to visitors. Plus, you can visit the oldest remaining Reform synagogue in the United States!

On a horse-drawn carriage tour of Charleston with Adam in December 2012

5. Sedona, Arizona. Beautiful multicolored mountains are the backdrop for this small, spiritual town in sunny Arizona. My friends and I loved hiking, horseback riding, and Jeep touring on the cactus-lined terrain. It’s known for spiritual vortices — and though I’m not sure we found deeper spiritual meaning, we sure loved the sun and the scenery.

Hiking in Sedona, Arizona with Priya and Virginia in December 2014

6. Saugatuck/Holland/South Haven, Michigan; and Indiana Dunes, Indiana. I listed a lot of cities here, but Adam and I visited these places all on one trip. The hiking in the Indiana Dunes was so beautiful (and full of many hills and stairs … my calf muscles still haven’t fully recovered), and I think we Chicagoans forget how close this gem really is. South Haven is an idyllic little town with great beaches, cute shops, and a beautiful lighthouse. Holland is like a little local piece of the Netherlands, complete with a windmill, a tulip festival, and wooden shoes. Saugatuck was lovely, an art lover’s dream, filled with art galleries, gift shops, and beautiful beaches.

Dune ride in Saugatuck with Adam in August 2013

7. Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Park, Illinois. Friends, you don’t even have to leave Illinois for a great getaway. The hiking and scenery in Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Park were fantastic — and oh so local! Many of us know of Starved Rock, but Matthiessen State Park is a lesser-known find, filled with beautiful waterfalls.

Enjoying the waterfalls in Matthiessen State Park with Adam in May 2014

8. Washington, D.C. I’ve often said that if I didn’t live in Chicago, I’d love to live in D.C. In addition to the thrill of being in the center of our nation’s government (I assume that any person who walks by in a suit is a member of Congress), I think the neighborhoods are great to explore and the vibe is so much fun. I just feel smart when I’m there. The museums are free, the food is great, and, let’s be real, any place that houses the Ruby Slippers is like home to me.

In front of the White House in Washington, D.C. with my friends from my Alternative Student Break trip in December 2008

9. New York, New York. Okay, okay, I’ll include New York on this list. It’s no Chicago, but it’s certainly an experience. The Broadway plays, the restaurants, the museums, the neighborhoods, the cupcakes, the studio tours, the Highline, the frozen hot chocolate — it is a fantastic place to visit. Plus, I recently visited Brooklyn, and it’s adorable — who knew??

At the Carnegie Deli in New York with Adam, Dan, and Dori in November 2011

10. San Francisco, California. I loved visiting San Francisco, even for a short visit as part of my USY on Wheels teen tour (and somehow I forgot to wear some flowers in my hair). It feels straight out of the 1960s with hippies on Haight Ashbury, and I loved visiting the steep and curvy Lombard Street, plus Ghiradelli Square and Alcatraz. I definitely want to go back for a longer trip.

My photos from my USY on Wheels trip in summer 2003 have not yet been digitized, but I did find this picture of our group from that summer — perhaps this photo was taken in San Francisco!

Honorable mentions to Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Diego, San Antonio, Ft. Lauderdale, Birmingham, Breckenridge, Niagara Falls, Lake Geneva, Atlanta, Boston, and Madison, all of which I also enjoyed.

If you’re planning on visiting any of these places, I’d be happy to share my recommendations; and if you have ideas for other places that you loved in our great country, I can’t wait to visit them, too.

We Jews love our food
memories. We have our stand-by recipes that remind us of holidays, family, good
times, and bad. And horseradish—maror in Hebrew—is one of those foods.

I can’t even look at the
root vegetable without the familiar smell taking me to Passover. I can be
standing in my kitchen at work, pulverizing the giant veggie in the middle of a
hot summer day, and once I crack open the gnarly looking knob, I am back at the
seder.

It is funny, because not
many other foods do that for me. I can eat latkes all year round (and
do!) and have occasionally snacked on an orphaned box of matzoh I found in a cabinet,
months after the holiday. In desperate moments I have greedily gobbled stray gelt
and never once thought of Chanukah.

But Horseradish is
different. The pungent aroma is so unique and so—Pesadich!

Eating a bitter herb is
an important part of the Seder.

There is a commandment in the Torah to
eat bitter herbs during the seder together with the Paschal offering. Nowadays
since we no longer bring a paschal offering, the commandment to eat maror during the seder is rabbinic in
nature.

The reason that we eat the bitter herbs
is to commemorate how the oppressive Egyptian slave-masters embittered the
lives of the Jewish slaves in Egypt. According to the Talmud, there are
different types of food that qualify as maror. The
most common custom is to use romaine lettuce, but it is essential that the
lettuce be pre-checked for any bugs. Others use grated horseradish and some
people have the custom of using both. It is customary to dip the maror in the charoset (culinary bricks-and-mortar mixture) (and then to shake
off the charoset) as an antiseptic to
its pungent taste.

In addition to the requirement to eat
the maror by itself, the maror is also an ingredient in the korech Hillel sandwich in commemoration
of the practice at the time of the Temple to eat the matzoh and maror together with the paschal lamb as
indicated in the verse “you shall eat it [the Paschal lamb] together.

1. Combine
all of the ingredients together in a food processor. Pulse several times
until the mixture is combined, but still has some texture.

2. Dollop
the schmear on latkes fresh out of frying pan and garnish as
desired. Store the schmear, covered, in the refrigerator for up to
5 days.

Horseradish crusted standing beef roast

Serves 6-8

Something
wonderful happens to horseradish when it is cooked. The pungent root vegetable
so tearfully familiar during Pesach becomes sweet and savory once cooked and
slathered all over gorgeous beef. The king of all meat cuts is a perfect
celebratory gorgeous hunk of meat. It looks intimidating—but is actually really
easy and can be done ahead of time and kept warm.

1. Lay the rib roast, bone side down, in a large heavy duty roasting
pan. Scatter the vegetables around the roast. These will be the base for
wine sauce later.

2. Season the roast with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Mix the
horseradish and roasted garlic together.

3. Generously smear the mixture over the rib roast. Place the
prepared roast in the pre-heated oven and roast for 20 minutes. Lower the
temperature of the oven to 325 and roast for an additional 60 minutes.

4. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the roast and
when the temperature registers 115 (for rare-medium rare), remove the
roast. Loosely tent the meat with foil and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
This will allow the final temperature to be around 125-130. The internal
temperature will continue to rise in a process called “carry-over”
cooking.

5. Remove the meat and place the roasting pan over a burner at medium
heat. Add the wine and gently scrape up any brown bits with a wooden
spoon. Continue cooking until the wine has reduced by half. Strain out the
vegetables and discard. Add the stock and continue cooking until the sauce
has reduced and coats the back of a spoon. Adjust seasoning with salt and
fresh cracked pepper.

6. Remove the bones and slice the meat. Serve on a platter with wine
sauce and sautéed mushrooms if desired.

7. To hold the meat for Shabbat: Once the meat has reached the
desired temperature, turn off the oven and remove the meat as in step 4.
After the meat has rested and any carry over cooking is finished, return
the meat back to the warm oven. Allow the door to stand slightly open and
the meat will stay warm for another 30 minutes or more.

My 5-year-old son, all dressed up in his finest Purim
costume, looked up at me and said, “Abba, I love Purim! Let’s go do some more shalach
manos!” He was referring to the special candies and treats that are
given out amongst friends throughout the community on Purim day.

He and his siblings along with all their friends
prepared many days in advance, just like their parents were doing the same, to
give out packaged treats to all their friends, neighbors and community. It is a
special mitzvah on Purim called mishloach manot. I smiled and thought it was cute how he
probably was perceiving the “agreed exchange.” Typical 5-year-old kid,
right?

But then I remembered a beautiful teaching Rabbi
Moshe Katz shared with us at our Purim event downtown. He asked the question we
all have to ponder, “What’s the difference between Purim and Halloween?” They
dress up, and we dress up. They get candy, and we get candy. Is it
just that Halloween has a horror theme to it, and Purim has more of an ancient
Persian royal banquet feel to it?

The answer he gave shed a beautiful light on the
holiday; it also influenced my response to my son’s query. Rabbi Katz told
the crowd of 60-plus young professionals gathering at JUF/JCC downtown to learn
and celebrate the story of Purim, that the difference is profound and actually
goes to the core of what it truly is to be a Jew.

You see, on Halloween children are taught to go
around knocking on doors asking for candies and treats. They put in their efforts,
and they reap the rewards. But on Purim, we teach our children to go around
knocking on doors to give candies and treats. Despite the fact that we
often receive in return, the true Purim experience dictated by our heritage
going back over 2,500 years is to be giving on
the day of Purim. That’s the Jewish “Halloween.”

Purim is a day of connecting with our friends,
community and our heritage. Some even explain the age-old custom of costumes is
to break down any barriers that may have been between us. Perhaps my neighbor
and I are of a different socio-economic status, or perhaps we have nothing in
common. Today, I dress up as a ‘50s rock star and he’s a green crayon. We
walk around the neighborhood and the community sharing in our delight of being
a part of the Jewish people. We send each other homemade goodies as we
laugh and dance to our hearts content together, on par as comrades.

This is the message of Purim. It is the message of
our Jewish people. And it was the message that I tried to convey to my son with
his cute inquiry. I told him, “Enjoy your candies and treats, my son. They
come from your friends who love and care about you. But remember, the most
precious opportunity for you to be a part of on this day is the chance to show
your friends how much you love and care about them!”

Not literally – when it
comes to getting a forkful of food to my mouth, I’m actually over 98 percent accurate.
What I mean is, in this life that could be considered adult, when I am tasked
to eat a meal by myself, I constantly feel as if I’m failing quite
spectacularly at it.

Now don’t get me wrong,
there have been successful meals in the past. One you can actually read about here! That’s
right, I wrote a whole Oy!Chicago piece about how I ate dinner successfully by
myself one night. But what I’m really getting at is, for some reason, eating by
myself seems to pose quite the multitude of troubles for me that really
shouldn’t exist.

It all began in
19-aught-87, when I was born to wonderful parents, albeit bland-paletted ones.
As I grew up, my mother was not one to cook much. I blame my father. That’s
honestly not meant to be mean-spirited; let’s just say that for my dad, BBQ
sauce is the most exotic thing he eats – as long as it’s normal BBQ sauce, which
I think to him means McDonald’s BBQ sauce. Hence, my mom didn’t cook often, so
we went to restaurants often; hence, as an adult, I am often at restaurants.
Ironically, despite my lacka-taste-ical upbringing, I’ve actually developed
quite the diverse palette myself, relative to my family of course. So a son or
a brother, since that’s how I’m relative to my family … I’m so sorry.

The irony of going to
restaurants on a more than regular basis is that my
introversion would lead you to believe I wouldn’t want company.
It’s not that I need company, but for whatever reason, I can’t just sit there
and eat. Regardless of being at a restaurant, I need to either be watching
something or have my mind focused elsewhere other than on the monotonous task
of chewing my food. Therefore, because I get what I like to call “All By Myself
Restaurant Anxiety,” I sometimes, like to play Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself”
when eating, hence the title of the anxiety.

One major reason why I
love all the big Jewish holidays is it gives me a reason to be around others
conversing and having a spectacular meal. And while I love the leftovers that
come with it, when I have to eat those leftovers alone it is just not the same.
Not even close. At home, I pretty much have to be watching TV or something. It
is the darndest thing and kids aren’t even saying it. I will literally plan my
meals around a TV show or a sporting event which on occasion means I won’t eat
dinner until roughly 9 p.m., or if I’m lucky, around softly 8:30.

When I don’t have plans to
eat a meal with a companion, sometimes the struggle involves simply taking the
time to eat. As a rational adult, I know that I need to eat or I will die. Not
immediately of course, but pain will come via a rumbly in my tumbly if I don’t
feed myself. Unfortunately, sometimes I get so hungry or as some like to say,
hangry (hungry + angry) that I cease to have the ability to make any rational
decisions. At that point I want to forgo any preparation time, so dinner
sometimes becomes a bag of Flamin’ Hot Fritos and that weird flavored water
that has been at the back of my fridge since I moved in three years ago.

I think the silliest
struggle I have is the one with breakfast, the quote unquote most important meal
of the day. I never eat it for the quote unquote exact reasons I’m supposed to
eat it. It gets my metabolism going far too early and come lunchtime, I’m
dealing with a whole different version of the Hunger Games. Yes, this paragraph
was written just for that joke.

But here’s the thing,
despite all these struggles, I manage to get through these spectacularly and honestly
asinine troubles I have with dining by myself. Mostly because, and this is a
whole different can of worms (I own about seven cans by the way), when eating
alone at home, I don’t cook – I microwave. And with that microwaving, I have my
fail-safe that has been my fail safe for the past two-plus decades: SpaghettiOs.
Glorious,
glorious SpaghettiOs.

Growing
up as a child I didn’t fully understand the concept of piggy banks.

As far as I could tell — based on the
information amassed from countless viewings of Toy Story and the occasional Nickelodeon advertisement — piggy
banks were strange, possibly animate creatures into which you put your
unusually large coins. Later, when you wanted to retrieve that money, you
either smashed or violated the piggy to get maybe $3 worth of change out of it.
The whole thing seemed completely barbaric to me.

When my
peers and I became old enough to receive an allowance and visits from the
“Tooth Fairy” (sorry, Mom and Dad, you didn’t fool me for a second!) they kept
their winnings in bright pink piggy banks, and I kept mine in a little box in
my closet.

This
choice greatly confused my friends, who would occasionally come to my house
with piggy banks in tow so we could all count our money together in an
entertaining ritual rather similar to sorting one’s candy on Halloween. The
first time we met, no one mentioned my lack of a piggy bank. But the second
time, Claudia asked, “Where’s your piggy bank, Jenna?”

Reveling
in being contrary, I answered, “I don’t have one, I use this instead,” gesturing
to my little box.

“So,”
said Claudia, “what’s that?” pointing to an object on the shelf on the other
side of the room. Looking up, I realized that she was pointing to our tzedakah box where we set aside money to
donate each year.

Their
silence led to wonder if maybe there was another name for tzedakah boxes that I didn’t know. My mom’s great-aunt called the
freezer an “ice box,” so why couldn’t my friends have another name for this
everyday household item too?

“You
know,” I said, “a charity box. The place you put extra money to give to charity?”

They still
had no idea what I was talking about.

It was
then that I realized that tzedakah
boxes were a distinctly Jewish thing and in fact not a staple in every American
household. That realization made me kind of sad. I felt it was a shame that my
non-Jewish friends didn’t get to drop coins in the slot of their tzedakah boxes and hear the “whoosh” and
metallic “click” of money filling up the box. But then, looking back at the
structure of their piggy banks, I realized that my friends did know the
satisfying sensation of dropping money through the slot. The only difference
was that the money saved in their piggy banks was for them, and the money we
saved in our tzedakah box was for
someone else.

From
that day on, I looked at our tzedakah
box with a heightened sense of responsibility. I began following my dad around
the house and collecting the change that fell out of his pockets. I rooted
through kitchen drawers for spare coins and dug through the washer and dryer
too. By the end of that first year, I had helped collect over $25 in spare change
— a mighty feat for an elementary school student. And the money went to the
charity of my choice, the name and purpose of which I’ll admit I’ve forgotten.
But every year since, my family has filled our tzedakah box and donated the money to a deserving cause, which I get
to choose.

A few
years ago, while counting the year’s savings, I decided to send our tzedakah to the JUF annual campaign. As
we sorted the pennies from the nickels, my family and I discussed under whose
name the donation would be made, since the three of us were already regular
donors to JUF. But before we had the chance to make up our minds, the decision
was made for us, for up onto the table jumped our cat, Callie, who then
proceeded to roll around in the pile of change on the table. While this
adorable — albeit passive aggressive — display was nothing more than a demand
for attention, we decided that it was Callie’s way of telling us she wanted to
become a regular donor at JUF, too. So we counted out the change and wrote a
check to JUF from Callie Cohen for a grand total of $25.

Since
then, Callie has become a regular donor of JUF, in fact, she’s come to take it
quite seriously. Each year, without fail, Callie joins us on the dining room
table to oversee the counting out of her annual gift. She no longer sits on (or
rolls around in) her yearly donation, but sits beside the emptied tzedakah box with what seems to be a
sort of feline pride.

You
know you live in a delightfully Jew-y home when even the cat knows the
importance of giving tzedakah.

How do you make omelets and French toast even better than
they already are? Matzoh, that’s how. I know that “matzoh” isn’t typically the
answer to that kind of question because it’s dry and flavorless, but just go
with me on this. Much like the fried tortillas in chilaquiles, matzoh has this
way of turning regular old breakfast into something special, textured, and
absolutely delicious.

And good news! Passover is coming, so matzoh is plentiful
and on sale! What? You are gluten-free? Yup, I got you covered. Now all you
need is to decide if you are in a sweet or a savory mood, because matzoh brei (fried matzoh) comes both
ways. How switchy.

I grew up eating both versions, savory immediately followed
by sweet, because dessert following breakfast is totally a thing and the only civilized way to eat. The classic savory
version of matzoh brei has fried
onions in it, but I also like to add a little garlic, some fresh herbs, and
even a little cheese. What can I say? Gilding the lily is sort of my calling
card. The classic sweet version is a lot like French toast, served with butter
and syrup and powdered sugar on top. Though I wouldn’t say no to a tumble of
fresh berries, some whipped cream, a drizzle of chocolate—I could go on all
day!

Below are recipes for both sweet and savory matzoh brei. But by all means, do not limit yourself to my ingredient
list. This can really be a “clean-out-the-fridge” meal where you toss in
leftover grilled veggies or pesto from last night’s dinner, or scrape out the
last spoonfulls of your peanut butter jar.

As long as you follow these five basic steps you can add
pretty much anything to the mix and be happy about it. Chag Pesach Sameach!

The basic matzo brei technique in five steps:

1) Take out however many sheets of matzoh you might need. I
typically use 2 sheets per person, but I like to over-feed people.

2) Crumble up the matzoh indiscriminately. You want some
pretty large shards and some smaller pieces as well. Try to avoid making matzoh
dust though.

3) Run some extremely hot water in your faucet. Once it’s
hot, drown the matzoh for about 30 seconds, or until you feel it start to
break down a bit. You don’t want it totally water-logged, but it should
definitely be pretty soft.

4) Drain the matzoh of all the liquid. Completely. Literally
press down on the matzo to squeeze out any remaining water.

5) Mix in 2 eggs per sheet of matzo, along with a few
pinches of salt.

Boom. Now it’s time to get creative.

Sweet: Heat up a few tablespoons of butter in a large
skillet. Pour in the matzoh and egg mixture over medium-high heat, and scramble
it up just like you are making eggs. Once everything is nice and browned, plate
it up and pour on your toppings of choice!

Savory: Thinly slice a medium-sized onion. Heat up a few
tablespoons of butter in a large skillet with a little oil as well. (Pro tip:
mixing butter with oil prevents the butter from burning at a high heat. The
more you know). Add the onions to the skillet and cook them for about 10
minutes, or until the onions get super caramelized and brown and nom. Feel free
to add in some fresh garlic or any other veggies you are into as well. You can
also add some spices like garlic powder, dried herbs, chili powder, really
anything your little heart desires. Just make sure you add a few big pinches of
salt and black pepper. Pour in the matzoh and egg mixture over medium-high
heat, and scramble it up just like you are making eggs. Once everything is nice
and browned, you can add some cheese to melt in if you wish. Enjoy!

Stephanie Goldfarb,senior associate of teen initiatives at the Jewish
United Fund, won the Food Network’s reality show ‘America’s Best Cook’ last
year.

It’s a relationship filled with laughter, tears, intrigue, and surprise. It was love at first sight, back when I was a little girl—with an extra-terrestrial that longed to go home.

From then on, that love has never wavered, and isn’t reserved for one, but for oh so many—Ferris Bueller, Annie Hall, Tootsie, Harry and Sally, Marty McFly, Atticus Finch, Danny Zuko, Yentl, that little dog Toto, Mrs. Doubtfire, and so many others.

Yes, I’m in love with the movies.

What’s better than settling into a crowded movie theater on opening weekend, the scent of $14 buttered popcorn wafting through the air, the larger-than-life screen, booming sound, and darkness enveloping us? Our daily worries melt away, and we’re swept into another world for 2-plus hours.

Sometimes movies are meant purely for escape, and other times their stories change the way we think about our own lives—our real-life dramas and comedies. At best, movies make us think, feel, connect, love, and even reach for greatness.

Every winter—culminating with the Oscars—I cram in as many movie nominees as I can. In the last three months, I’ve watched a British mathematician break the Nazi code, witnessed peril through the eyes of a Navy SEAL sniper in Iraq, seen a boy blossom into a man over 12 actual years, marched on Selma, climbed inside the genius brain of Steven Hawking, hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, meandered “into the woods,” and more.

We Jews, as a people, tend to love the movies, and we’re represented in so many interesting ways on film and behind the scenes.

In 2011, Tablet Magazine compiled its list of the top 100 Greatest Jewish films of all times. For the magazine’s staff to pick their favorites, they first asked themselves one crucial question: What the heck is a Jewish film? And since there’s really no formula for defining a “Jewish film,” they decided to think about their picks in terms of a broad definition of Jewishness— movies based on the identity of its creators, overarching Jewish themes, films that have a big influence on pop culture, and movies that simply possess a Jewish sensibility about them. Their list was eclectic, and included everything from The Jazz Singerto The Wedding Singer.

But their top choice for the best Jewish film might surprise you. They picked—drumroll please—E.T.the Extra-Terrestrial, the story of the little alien who made me fall in love with movies all those years ago.

Of course, the movie, one of the highest grossing films ever, was directed by one of our greatest Jewish filmmakers, Steven Spielberg. But there’s more to it: E.T., Tablet said, tells the story of a bewildered alien in a strange land, a metaphor for an immigrant’s tale. The film’s themes of home, love, family, friendship, and enchantment, according to the magazine, make it a beautiful choice for the quintessential Jewish movie.

Of course, any film school professor worth her salt would find it great food for thought to think about what makes a film Jewish or even what makes a decent film in general.

But the joy of movies, to me, doesn’t have to be proven like a mathematical equation. It’s really that je ne sais quoi quality that moves us to an almost transcendent place—that mystical, magical feeling that lingers with us long after the last frame ends.

No, we can’t always define what it is about movies that speak to us. All we know is—just like that sweet little Reese’s Pieces-eating alien—we love them.

A Rabbi once said that a person dies two deaths: The first is when you
die; the second is when people stop remembering you.

On occasion, I like to play a terrible game. There are usually three
scenarios and it goes something like this:

Scenario #1 - I am
suddenly dead. My practical engineer
husband, in an effort to appear “upbeat” for the children, never mentions me
again. Why upset the kids, himself and his new trophy wife? It would be best
not to burden the bunch with such unpleasantries.

Scenario #2 - I am
suddenly dead. My husband Mike, in his paralyzing grief, tells no one I’ve
died. Not even my friends on Facebook. No one attends my funeral.

Scenario #3 - I am
suddenly dead. Mike alerts Facebook. Everyone and their mother attends the
service. My ex-boyfriend reveals I was way more into him than he was into me. A
girl named Wendy volunteers the story about how I peed on her in kindergarten.
Someone farts loudly at the service. No one keeps to the two-minute rule.

My husband does not enjoy this game for a variety of reasons. (Well,
duh. Add it to the list.)

This year I have a new “I’m suddenly dead” worry: what exactly is it that
will be my “legacy” when I’m gone? How will my life be remembered?

My legacy with my kids will of course be inked with memories of my
everyday perfection. They will fondly recall stories that equate me with Mother
Teresa and most definitely name one of their children’s hamsters after me. But
beyond my brainwashed offspring …?

This may seem very self-important, self-centered, grandiose … and maybe
there is a tiny bit of ego in there, but truly, all ego aside (for the most
part), I think we should all be thinking about this. How are we impacting the world? Are we making a difference? In
other words, are we doing things that when we croak, our absence beyond the
obligatory friends and family (assuming they like us) is felt and we are missed
because of what we have authentically contributed to the greater good of
humanity?

I believe we should all be missed in our communities and by communities
outside of our own. Wherever we are and whoever we are, I believe we should be
bringing something, doing something, adding something. I believe we owe it to
the world to make it a little bit better since we have been given the
incredible opportunity of living in it.

Maybe that’s where the answer lies. Instead of worrying about the long-term
impact we will have made when we are gone – who will dedicate a plaque in our memory,
who will make us a martyr as time erases the more human truths – maybe we need
to be worrying more about who and what we are impacting while we are still here.

Because with all due respect to the Rabbi, I think it’s three deaths in
a lifetime: 1) You die. 2) No one remembers you. And 3) While alive, you settle
for complacency. Tikkun olam my
friends! And you can put that on my headstone.

Don’t get me wrong, we need fat. Fat stores energy; it is needed for
growth, development, and function when there is a shortage of food supply. Fat
also helps to keep you full. If you read the headlines, low-fat dieting is not
a successful strategy for losing weight. I’m not telling you to eat burgers
with bacon and cheese, but a little fat – namely more of the good fats – is good.

So if you want to shave off a little, here are four ways to do it
without plastic surgery.

1. Eat more
good fat

The low fat revolution started about 20 years ago, and obesity rates
have exploded. Eat some fat – just don’t overdo it. There are even a group of
people that eat high fat diets and lose weight, which is called a ketogenic
diet. Then there are the paleo people who eat a ton of animal protein but
little carbohydrates, and of course vegans, who eat zero animal products and
claim their diet is the best.

The ketogenic diet was originally designed for children with epilepsy
and has started to gain popularity with nutrition gurus. This diet is high in
fat, moderate protein, and low in carbs. Bill Clinton switched from a vegan
diet to a diet like this to lose more weight. I am not a nutritionist, but in
my opinion, eating the following foods can help with feeling full and energized
so you don’t snack from the office candy bowl:

Avocado
(great smeared on toast)

Almonds,
walnuts, cashews

Pumpkin,
hemp, chia and sunflower seeds

2. Eat
less sugar

This is a no-brainer: sugar is the enemy. Whether you drink soda, love
candy, or are a choco-holic, eat less. I would never say to quit sweets. I have
provided many tips in past blogs for enjoying sweets without overindulging, but
here are some highlights:

Sample - try a tiny bite and only it’s
good, go back for more

Share - my wife gets upset that I make
her share sweets with me, but it forces to me portion control

Don’t buy it at home - there
are certain things I can buy, like ice cream, that will last in my house for
ever – then there are Oreos

Mini cokes - soda is empty calories
that ruin your blood sugar level, waist line and teeth. It’s so easy to keep
refilling the soda, but a small can lets you get the satisfaction without all
the calories

Dark chocolate -
because it’s so rich it’s hard to overeat; dark chocolate has less sugar and
has many beneficial properties

3.
Intensity matters

It’s not the weight you lift or how far you run – it’s the level you are
working at. Not every workout should be super hard, but you need to intensify.
I’m not recommending you work out so hard you puke, or feel light-headed; if
you want to burn fat, short bouts of high intensity training are effective.
Here are some examples:

Intervals: It doesn’t matter if you
are walking, running or jogging, pick up the pace for 30-45 seconds, cool down
and then speed up again

Mix it up: If you normally run,
trying boxing; if yoga is your thing, try a different kind. Zumba your jam? Try
pilates. Your body adjusts to how you train, so mixing it up will work
different muscles

4. Have
fun!

The more you stress about your body, the harder it is to lose weight.
Make exercise and eating healthy enjoyable. Experiment with different fruits
and vegetables, or buy a new healthy oil like coconut and figure out how to
cook with it. Keep it in the fridge and know it spoils and is best for cooking
at lower temperatures. Take a different exercise class, enlist a friend, make a
total 80s mix and enjoy the workout. And most importantly – don’t give up!

If you want to work out with a trainer, get coached through the web, or
just ask a question, email me at rkrit@fitwithkrit.com.

Since Sid Luckman, the NFL has not seen its
share of great Jewish players. Julian Edelman, Taylor Mays and a slew of offensive
linemen have recently sparked our interest, but not too long ago, there was a
man under center who was all the craze. His name was Jay Fiedler.

Fiedler revived the Miami Dolphins franchise,
which showed signs of life for the first time in the years following Dan
Marino. We recently got in touch with Fiedler, who not only has a great
football story, but is an overall great guy.

1. What got you involved in football?

I grew up on sports. From the time I was 5
years old, I played every sport possible. At age 6, I began playing
football, mainly because my older brother was playing in the town’s youth
league. I started as a running back my first couple years playing, then
became a quarterback at age 8 and stayed at that position ever since. I played
all sports, but football became my favorite because of the intense physical and
mental challenges it offers as well as the many team focused aspects that the
game teaches so well.

2. What was your experience playing in
the Ivy League?

I went to Dartmouth College because of many
reasons. First and foremost was to get a great education. Athletically, I
wanted a place where I could participate in both football and track and field
and Dartmouth not only allowed, but encouraged many of their athletes to play
multiple sports. My experience on the football field at Dartmouth was
great. The Ivy League, despite the perception, is an incredibly
competitive brand of football with very talented players. Of course,
winning league titles during my time made the experience extra special.

3. Was it a tough transition to the NFL?

The NFL game is played so much faster than
at any level of college football. For me, I was always able to process
information very quickly, so I was able to transition my game on the field
quick. The hardest thing for me was getting my opportunity to perform and climb
the ranks. It took a long time and lots of persistence, but I finally got an
opportunity to compete for a starting job six years after graduating college
and made the most of it when I took over the starting job in Miami in 2000.

4. You took off with the Dolphins; why
did you find so much success in Miami?

I had learned so much from many coaches and
teammates I played with prior to joining the Dolphins and when I finally got my
opportunity to prove myself with Miami, I felt I was extremely prepared to take
advantage of that opportunity. Coach Wannstedt believed in me as his
starter and I quickly earned the respect of my teammates in the locker room and
on the field.

5. What have you been doing since your
NFL days?

I became involved in a few entrepreneurial
pursuits, including owning and operating a minor league basketball team, before
finally settling into my family’s business of running summer and sports camps
along with my older brother Scott.

6. Tell us about Camp Brookwood.

The Sports Academy at Brookwood
Camps is a summer sleep-away camp which combines the best of a traditional camp
with the best features of a sports camp. We are bringing in world-class
instructors no other traditional camp can attract to teach our campers in a
number of different sports and activities while also offering the camaraderie
and fun activities a traditional camp offers. Campers can learn football
from former professional players, baseball from Leo Mazzone (former Atlanta
Braves pitching coach), soccer from instructors who work with Manchester
United’s Youth Development Program, basketball from two former Division I
college coaches, and many more amazing instructors in tennis, dance, sports
broadcasting and more. The best way to find out about our camp is to watch
our videos on our website at www.brookwoodcamps.com/video

7. What was your Jewish involvement as a
child?

I was raised as a Reform Jew and received bar
mitzvah at Temple Avodah in Oceanside, NY. I remain very proud of my
Jewish heritage today.

8. What is your favorite Jewish
tradition?

My favorite tradition is spending Yom Kippur
with family. While the fast can be a bit difficult, I enjoy spending time
with family and feasting on a wonderful spread at sundown.

9. Who is the greatest defensive player
you played against? Why?

The best defensive player I played against
was Ray Lewis. He had all the physical tools to make every play on the
field, whether blitz the QB, stuffing the run, or dropping into coverage. He
also was incredibly instinctual and smart on the field which gave him the
ability to get to the ball faster than any other linebacker I ever played
against.

10. Manning or Brady? Why?

So hard to choose. Both are so smart and in
command of the game. If I had to choose, I would pick Brady based on the
overall battles we had in Miami against him. Throughout his career he has
shown an ability to keep his offense at an elite level despite the fact that so
many of his offensive teammates have changed over the years.

11. Anything else you'd like to
add?

In addition to running The
Sports Academy at Brookwood Camps during the summer time, I also really enjoy
working with and coaching football players throughout the fall, winter and
spring at the many passing clinics and training session I run through my Prime
Time Sports Camp brand (www.primetimecamps.com). I am currently coaching up a few
college players trying to make the jump to the pro level as well as many youth
and high school players in my weekly clinics. Coaching these guys and
watching them go on to success on and off the field has given me some great
pleasures.

The Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago is the one organization that impacts every aspect of local and global Jewish life, providing human services for Jews and others in need, creating Jewish experiences and strengthening Jewish community connections.